


One Hundred Yesterdays (Part 4)

by QuietDarkness



Series: Simplicity and Complexity (Harrisco) [22]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: M/M, harrisco
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 03:30:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11050395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietDarkness/pseuds/QuietDarkness
Summary: Harry might be trying to put his time on the hell that was Earth-714 behind him, but it soon becomes clear that it isn't done with him at all. A dangerous side effect has taken hold, and now Harry's life hangs in the balance. The key to his survival is back on 714, and Jesse and Barry return there in the hopes of retrieving it, not realizing that the cure they hope for may not be what it seems.And, like all hells, this one has a devil all its own. His name is Zero Point. And he's been waiting patiently, for far too long...'Opposites don't just attract. They catch fire and burn the entire city down.'(Part 22)





	One Hundred Yesterdays (Part 4)

Harry was doing his best to readjust to life back home. He had bouts of long quiet hours, as though whatever was raging through his head was too awful to let out. And then there were moments where Cisco swore he was the old Harry again. He knew it was going to take time. Lots of it. Caitlin had made it clear that the emotional damage was just as important to deal with as the physical damage. She encouraged Harry to talk, to say whatever was on his mind, not to keep the bad memories in. But for Harry, that was like pulling his own teeth out. He didn't confide in many people, and when he did it was short worded and vague. Which was why Cisco was overjoyed that Harry could talk to him more. The way the older man opened up to Ramon was a blessing for them both. It gave Harry the outlet he needed, and it helped Cisco feel like he could actually make a difference in Harry's recovery. 

Physically, however, things seemed to be far more complicated. Harry's body had way more scars now than before. On his back was something Cisco swore looked like slash marks, from giant claws, ranging from his right shoulder blade down to his left hip. He'd never seen anything like it, and the idea that Harry had survived something so obviously painful and terrifying was sobering. Harry had other scars, too. Some that looked like they'd been puncture wounds, others terrible scrapes. His body was a map of all the things those three months in that wild Earth had done to him. And whenever Cisco saw any of the scars, his throat felt tight and he was sure his heart broke a little more each time. Harry hardly showed his scars, anyway. The only reason Cisco knew about the bulk of them was because he'd been there when Caitlin examined him that first time. Now, Harry kept them covered, never even took his shirt off around Cisco. They hadn't been intimate yet, but Cisco was not at all worried about that because Harry let him hold him, touch him, kiss him. Nothing hot and heavy, just small reassurances, gentle physical reminders that they were both very real and this wasn't a dream. It was pretty clear Harry wasn't ready for more. And Cisco could wait forever if need be. He was determined to make this transition as painless as possible for Harry.

But on the sixth day, the headaches began.

They started as just throbbing headaches that Harry chalked up to stress and didn't make much of. Caitlin insisted on running some tests, to be sure he wasn't having some delayed symptoms to something. But Harry told her she was worrying over nothing and refused. So Cisco took it upon himself to watch Harry like a hawk, much to the older man's chagrin. Cisco was about the only person here that Harry spent the most time with besides Jesse, and not once did he complain about it. But when Cisco started following him literally everywhere, he'd get narrowed eyes through glasses at random intervals. A look, admittedly, Cisco had missed so damn much.

It wasn't till Harry stood up and threw a white board eraser at Cisco's head that he second guessed his decision. And yet, he was so freakin delighted that Harry was throwing things again that he just grinned like an idiot when Harry stared at him. "Ramon, I swear..." Harry shook his head, moving away from the table he was sitting at. He had been fiddling with his pulse rifle. Falling back into science and tinkering had been easy for Harry. Like second nature. He pulled his glasses off, running a hand through his messy hair momentarily. "I'm not going to break." He finally said, resting one hand on his hip, the other hanging at his side, glasses dangling from his fingers. Cisco was still grinning, then popped a piece of his trail mix in his mouth, crunching down hard on it, "Stop it." Harry said, narrowing his gaze. Cisco munched. Loudly. "Ramon." Harry glared. And that was just amazing to Cisco. Who started chuckling like an idiot, nearly choking on what was in his mouth as he accidentally inhaled it. The result was Harry sighing, then a slow smile playing on his lips as he moved toward Cisco, grabbing the water bottle off his table on the way and screwing the top off before handing it to him. 

"That's right, enjoy my agony." Cisco mumbled after nearly chugging half the bottle, eyes a little watery. But he smiled at Harry whose expression was pleased. Harry leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on Cisco's forehead. It totally stilled him despite how delicate it was. When Harry moved away, he almost whined. Sometimes, Ramon felt a bit like an addict that was only getting small doses of his own personal drug. It was a good thing Harry wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"You really don't need to worry so much." Harry finally said, sitting back down, slipping his glasses back on. Cisco rounded the table, setting the bottle down. "They're just headaches." He added, picking up the rag he'd been using to clean the trigger mechanism. 

"Yeah, no they're not. Every day, several hours a day? Not just headaches, man. So until you let Caitlin check you out, I'm your new personal shadow." He crossed his arms over his chest, giving Harry the most firm, serious look he could muster. But Harry just raised a brow at him. 

"If I wanted to, I could disappear. You know that, right?" Harry said easily. Cisco felt himself sober slightly. Part of him worried a little that Harry might actually just do that. But the rest of him knew that Harry was choosing to deal with the frustration of Cisco's far too clingy presence. And that made him love the man just that much more. "I won't." He added, looking back down at what he was doing. 

"Damn right, you won't." Jesse said as she entered the Cortex, Harry didn't even look at her. He just cracked a very light smile as he turned the pulse rifle over. "If you weren't so stubborn," she said, setting down a plate with a sandwich on it, "We wouldn't have to baby you so much." Harry glanced at the plate. He'd been weird about food since he'd been back. Sometimes it was like he was starving and couldn't eat enough. Other times, he didn't eat at all, as though he'd forgotten food even existed. Like today. Cisco knew he hadn't eaten anything. Which was why Jesse was practically waving food in front of him. Of course, all this yoyoing with his diet probably wasn't helping his headaches any. 

"You don't have to baby me at all. I can take care of myself, Jesse." He remarked, not even an ounce of anger in his voice. But when she crossed her arms, staring him down, he sighed and then grimaced a little, grabbing the sandwich and taking a bite. He chewed, then looked at her, then at Cisco and back again. "I'm eating. Happy?" He stated, then shook his head. "Damn slave drivers." Jesse and Cisco both exchanged looks, smiling.

"Love you, too, Dad." Jesse responded softly, leaning down and kissing Harry's cheek. Harry's response was to smirk and get back to work. The rest of the afternoon went a lot like that. Harry with his tinkering, Cisco with his hovering, Jesse with her running back and forth between helping Barry and babying her stubborn father. More than once, Harry had tried to convince her that he really was going to be just fine. That she could go home, even though Cisco knew for a fact that Harry was loving having her around so much. But that was Harry to a T: Happy to worry about everyone else, happiest if they weren't worrying about him. It was good to know some things hadn't changed.

It was nearly eight at night by the time Cisco convinced Harry that it was time to go home. Not late by any standards. But Harry was having yet another headache, and the result was things getting tossed and more than a few frustrated growls to go with that. 

“I really wish you would let me run some tests.” Caitlin urged, practically pouting as Harry slipped his jacket on. His face was flushed red, and he'd taken his glasses off. 

“No.” Harry said, flat and stern. Cisco patted Caitlin's shoulder.

“I've tried. It's a losing battle, my friend.” He consoled her, though couldn't help but feel a little amused at how unhappy she was about it. Everyone cared for Harry in their own way. He was family. He reached for Harry then, resting a hand warmly on the taller man's lower back. “Come on. Let's get your grumpy beanstalk self home.” He grinned when Harry gave him a sharp look, and waited till Harry took that first step. 

But Harry never even got near the doorway before his hands went up, clinging to his temples, his whole body swaying and terribly rigid. In a heartbeat, Cisco and Caitlin were at his sides. But they only got there in time to hear a strangled sound escape Harry's mouth as he fell to the floor, knees hitting the hard concrete as his hands dropped and his whole body began to twitch. “He's having a seizure!” Caitlin exclaimed, darting from Harry toward the medlab. 

“Harry! Man, look at me!” Cisco urged, watching as Harry's eyes rolled up and his whole body jerked. “Caitlin, hurry!” He yelled, then darted toward the console, “Barry, Jesse to the Cortex, now!” He blurted into the mic, his voice echoing over the intercom. He got back to Harry's side the same time Caitlin did. She jabbed a needle into Harry's neck and injected him with something. A mere few breaths later, his whole body stilled, his chest rising and falling heavily. “Shit...” Cisco said softly, glancing at Caitlin who looked a little wide eyed.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was out cold in the med lab on a gurney and Caitlin had the rest of them out in the Cortex. Cisco was leaning against the door frame, staring at Harry's still form, eyes stinging from worried tears he refused to let escape. He remembered far too vividly the last time he'd seen Harry have a seizure somewhat like that, when Red Widow had poisoned him. “After reviewing everything,” Caitlin sighed lightly, crossing her arms over her chest, “As strange as it sounds, I think he's going through some sort of withdrawal on a cellular level.” Cisco furrowed his brows, turning to look at her. 

“Withdrawal from what?” Jesse asked, pushing off from the table she'd been leaning on. “Earth-714?” Caitlin nodded in answer.

“Not so much the planet as a whole. But I think... from the water.” She moved toward a console. “When he first came home, he told me about how the water there had healing properties. That it was clean and fresh but seemed to regenerate injuries far quicker than normal and would make everything from a cold to a fever to an infection disappear. Over time,” She put a few images up on the console of what a normal human cell looked like with water in its system, and what Harry's cells looked like when he'd first come back, “His body became dependent on it. Without the properties of that water, his body is trying to overcompensate for what it had come to believe was normal. Every cell is trying to re-establish what it's supposed to do without the water to reinforce natural regenerative properties.”

“Wait... can't that kill him, withdrawal I mean?” Cisco said, feeling a sudden surge of fear. Caitlin gave him a sympathetic look.

“It's not the withdrawal itself, but the shock on the body. Most addicts can have symptoms managed with medication while they purge drugs or alcohol from their system. In Harry's case, all I can do is sedate him. Without a fresh sample of the water to figure out what exactly its properties are and how it affects the body in real time, I can't make a viable treatment. It's just not as simple as riding it out. With the cells so dependent on what they're not getting, his body will start shutting down.” Caitlin explained. They all exchanged glances, one after the other. It was a silence that Cisco knew far too well. The kind that was followed by what was probably a really bad idea that they were going to attempt anyway.

“You guys thinking what I'm thinking?” Barry asked, slipping his hands out of his pockets as he took a step forward. Cisco turned slightly, looking back at Harry's quiet form. 

“We're going back.” He felt a strange and sudden fire in his belly, turning to look at the others. “To Earth-714.”

That hell was still affecting Harry, still hurting him. Emotionally, and now physically. Cisco wanted to blow the planet up, watch it burn in effigy for all the multiverse to see. But all he could do was get everyone back there, and pray that they'd find what they needed to get Harry better for good.

* * *

The plan was simple. Stupid, moronically stupid, but simple. 

Cisco would open the breach to get Barry and Jesse through. They'd bring weapons, because their powers would be inert once they got there, and they'd find the nearest source of water and bring as much of it back as they could. Cisco would stay behind and close the breach once they were on the other side, only opening it every hour for ten minutes, Wally standing guard to help keep in check anything that might accidentally get through. Or anyone. 

Zero Point was still out there, they were pretty sure. Harry had said he was probably still alive, though it had been weeks before his rescue since he'd seen him. Even without his powers, he was a royal asshole. They weren't going to take any chances. 

Meanwhile, Caitlin would keep constant vigil over Harry. As far as withdrawal symptoms went, Harry's were a fair bit more serious than a drug user or an alcoholic. His entire body was working on rewriting cell structures that had learned to work with this strange water. His body was literally trying to reject itself, right along with the need for the water it had grown accustomed to. The strain on his internal organs and other systems was immense. Keeping him sedated was the only way Caitlin could keep the stress on his body from causing more harm. Harry was going downhill far faster than any of them had initially realized. Which was terribly frightening and worrisome. And more than enough to push them forward with their monumentally bad idea.

“Ready?” Cisco asked, watching as Jesse turned her father's pulse rifle in her hands. She looked so worried, so wary and stressed out. Neither Jesse nor Barry were wearing their speedster suits. There wasn't a point. So they were dressed in the sort of clothes that were functional and comfortable enough to allow them to traverse an unforgiving landscape. Cisco reached over, resting his hand on Jesse's shoulder. “You got this. Okay? You're gonna get that water and get home before anything bad happens. I know it.” Cisco tried to sound convincing, offering her a warm smile which seemed to make a tightness leave her expression.

“Right. You're right.” She nodded firmly, holding the rifle a little more confidently. 

“It's probably morning there about now, if we calculated right from what Harry told us. So that gives us plenty of time to do this without animals hunting us.” Barry said, checking the automatic rifle he had one more time. He'd initially protested needing it, but Joe had pretty much forced him to take it. 

“Yup, so, let's not waste daylight!” Cisco said, clasping his hands together for a moment before moving to a nearby table and putting his goggles on. “Strap in, you two.” He said, then stood before the breach platform and took a deep breath. Letting it out slow, he tapped into his powers. It was a bit like opening a door into an ocean of energy. Except instead of being swallowed by the waves, he could make them do what he wanted. And just by thinking of it, half instinctively, he opened a swirling tunnel of white and gray and shadow laden light, a breach. 

Without hesitation, Barry and Jesse sped through. And after a ten count, he shut it down. Till the room was once again a dimly lit bastion. He took his goggles off, moving to the nearest computer and starting the clock. One hour from now, he'd open that breach right back up. He felt his lungs fill with air as a sigh built within him, spiraling out of his mouth far too slowly. He stared at the empty space where the breach had been and felt an instant sourness in his stomach. 

“Hurry.” He whispered, then hooked his goggles to his shirt and headed back to the med lab.

* * *

_Everything in Harry's head had felt like razors were criss-crossing through his brain in far too quick bursts that he couldn't stifle. One moment, his skull was throbbing. And the next? Well, he was pretty sure he'd hit the floor. Everything after that made no sense to him. He was very aware that the pain was suddenly gone. Even the dull ache he'd become accustomed to no longer registered. And he felt weightless, as though his whole body had no real physical form for gravity to drag down. He was sure his eyes were open, but he couldn't see anything. Just endless darkness so black that there was no hope of his eyes adjusting to it. Add to that the strange echoing sound of his heartbeat reverberating off something solid and surrounding him, and it made for one very confused Harrison Wells._

_He had been so sure that they were just stress headaches, nothing to worry about, no big deal. He owed everyone the biggest damn apology ever, especially Caitlin. He should have just let her examine him like she'd wanted. Because something was seriously wrong, which she no doubt had figured out by now. Which begged the question... if he was out cold in the medlab, then how was he still able to think so clearly? And he was thinking. There was nothing unconscious about what was happening in his head now, despite the disembodied feeling that had overcome him._

_Was that what this was? Some sort of out of body experience? That'd be a hell of a thing, considering he didn't really believe in that sort of supernatural bullshit. Even after everything he'd seen and experienced, there were just some things he refused to put stock in. No, there had to be another explanation. It was probably something so stupidly simple and staring him right in the face, but as active as his head was at the moment, he still couldn't bring it in to focus._

_What did come into view, however, was a blue spot._

_A light? An opening, maybe?_

_He wished he had some physical form to push himself forward, which was idiotic considering he knew damn well that this was all taking place in his own head... right?_

'Wrong.'

_That voice... he knew that voice. Part of him had hoped he'd never have to hear that voice again._

"Tess..." _He heard himself speak, despite the fact he didn't have a mouth to speak with._ "I mean, The Watcher." _Yeah, he was going to stick with the name he and Cisco had come up with. It was much easier to deal with._

'I like that term, so... yes.' _Her voice echoed from far off, somewhere in the distance, tumbling toward his hearing. Even without seeing her, he could hear the humor in her tone, delicate and gentle._

"What's happening?" _He demanded, his voice rumbling everywhere. For far too long, it was quiet. But the more silence spread around him, the more his heartbeat drummed in waves, the more that spot seemed to widen, grow._

'Change.' _She said, and this time her voice was right next to him, inside him even. And if he'd had a body to do so, he might have tried to get away from it._ 'Your friends have the right idea, retrieving the Source to help you.'

"The Source..." _Even though he'd never heard the term, something about it seemed familiar. He knew exactly what she was referring to, which was a little disconcerting._ "The water." _Shit. He knew that water had been too good to be true. Had it poisoned him somehow? Was he having some sort of delayed reaction?_

'Their plans for it, however, are wrong. The Source can't cure you. It can only change you.' 

_Harry felt an instant bubble of frustration, and for a moment that was enough to make him feel something physical. A tight ache in his temples, a throbbing in his ears._ "What are you talking about, dammit? Make some damn sense." _He growled out. Her response was patient, ever soothing._

'You need to consume more of the Source to complete the change. I didn't realize it was possible with your kind. But it appears you're quite compatible with the Source's energies. The change was stalled when you left. It cannot be reversed. But if you can get enough of the Source to complete it, you'll survive. I'll make sure your people understand this.'

"What..." _he felt his mouth go dry. Did he even have a mouth?_ "What is the change?" _There was a seed of panic inside of him, a fear subtle enough to stamp down, but big enough to be noticed. Like sand in a shoe._

'It is different for everyone. But it has already manifested in you, many times. You haven't noticed?' _She asked curiously, but then the spot began to shrink again, and her voice echoed once more, far away._ 'You'll understand soon enough. For now, sleep, Harrison. And let what happens... happen.'

 _The spot disappeared, the darkness ever stretching and unreal. Whatever physical sensations he'd had disappeared with it. And he could feel the strangest understanding surround him, that he was about to slip away to somewhere that thinking wasn't allowed. She'd pulled him here, into this dark and gravity-less place. And now that she was gone, he had to go back. Back into his own head, back into the body that was at the moment trying to kill him._ "Well, shit." _He muttered, just before consciousness broke and his mind went quiet._

* * *

He'd seen the breach open, he was sure of it. There was no mistaking that glimmering, reflective light in a place so dank and gray. And the feeling of joy was both overwhelming and terrible. He ran so hard that he was sure his lungs would explode from the effort. But the breach closed so quickly, that he nearly roared. Until he heard voices. One of which sounded strangely familiar. He took to the heights of a tree, concealing himself high in the bare branches, flattened against a thick branch as he waited and those voices came closer. 

There were two of them. A man and a woman. Both relatively young. But that wasn't what really caught his attention.

The woman was carrying something he knew far too well. Wells' rifle. "Bloody hell..." Zero Point whispered, watching them head further into the forest. They'd already rescued Wells, so why were they back? He chuckled lightly at himself, pushing up into a sitting position as they disappeared out of sight. Why did it even matter? They were here. And they wouldn't be here if they didn't have a way back.

His ride home had finally come. And there was no way in this hell hole he was going to miss it...

**Author's Note:**

> (To be continued...)


End file.
